R&S Tavares: Pushing the envelope on design

Father and son team Ralph and Pedro Tavares have been pushing the envelope with new designs and innovative technology in the modular housing sector from New York to California.

Ralph Tavares and his son, Pedro Tavares, like the fact that their company, R&S Tavares & Associates, is known for pushing the envelope when it comes to design services.
“People come to us because of that,” Pedro says. “We have been innovating in the modular industry especially for many years.”
These innovations include the use of structural insulated panels and manufacturer–poured concrete flooring in modular construction, as well as the use of reinforced concrete masonry units, shipping units weighing from 40 thousand to 70 thousand pounds that require no site–foundation preparation. The company offers over 40 years of experience in structural design and over 20 years in the modular construction industry.
Ralph Tavares and his wife, Silvana, founded the company in 2002.
“It was a good opportunity,” he says. “The market was good. People would call me because I had a good reputation in the industry.”
Thanks to his extensive experience and expertise, the company was able to offer its services nationwide. R&S currently has professional engineering licenses in 45 states as well as architectural licenses in California and New York.
Presently, the company has a variety of projects across the country including a four–story modular student housing complex in North Carolina, a 90–modular unit multifamily housing complex in the state of Washington, and a rehabilitation center for Blind Veterans in Palo Alto, Calif.
“We are also working on a structural system for a series of emergency relief shelters that will be deployed nationwide– possibly worldwide– by FEMA and we’re bidding on projects in Angola and Brazil,” Ralph said. “That’s just a few of our projects.”
Ralph Tavares started the company with four employees. R&S now has 12 employees and a second office in San Diego, Calif. It provides both structural and architectural design, consulting, and project management.
The company’s special niche is the design of pre–engineered modular and panelized building systems.
“That’s the bulk of what we do,” Ralph said. “Twenty percent of our work is site work; 80 percent is modular.”
Projects range from 2,000 to 30,000 sq. ft. and vary in scope from modular structures that can be shipped via container, to buildings with telescopic roofs that can raise the ceiling height.
“We are a full design company,” Ralph said. “We can take care of all of your needs, from cradle to grave. Everything is completely seamless.”
The company’s diversified portfolio also includes services to insurance companies, financial adjusters and end–users in cases of structural or design defects.
“Members of our staff are registered general contractors, architects, engineers, certified plan checkers and building inspectors, giving us the credibility and expertise to carry out this kind of work,” Ralph said.
Over the last few years R&S has become a fully BIM–capable office with projects like high–end, modern, prefabricated residences for clients such as Marmol–Radziner Architects and a large four–story, 100,000 plus sq. ft. modular student housing project that is currently in the building phase.
The demand for building information modeling  (BIM) competency will continue to rise as many states and federal agencies adopt cost–saving BIM practices for their projects. R&S started using BIM when it opened its San Diego location in 2007.
“We felt that it was the way the industry was headed and I think we’ve been right,” Ralph said. “Interfacing with a BIM model on a project alleviates a lot of coordination issues between disciplines, especially for things like collision detection between structural members and other design elements.”
R&S has designed a number of unique projects that have set them apart from the competition. For example, the company did the structural design and modular translation on High Tech High: Chula Vista. The project won an Award of Distinction from the Modular Building Institute for Green Design
this year.
“The building presented scheduling challenges as well as design complexities in its use of site–built elements and modular components,” Ralph said. “Our modular experience united the pre–fabricated classroom blocks to complete the building as a whole, but created unique design and coordination challenges between the many parties involved in design and construction.”
Some of the company’s most challenging projects are the homes it has designed for Marmol–Radziner Architects.
“We helped Marmol–Radziner develop a unique system of steel–framed chasses utilizing SIP ceilings and concrete floor horizontal diaphragms in the manufacturing process of their first prototype modular home, the Desert House, back in 2004,” Ralph said.
One of the firm’s projects came as a result of the active 2007 fire season in California after members of the R&S team had to evacuate their homes.
“Immediately after that we saw a need for more fire stations in San Diego County,” Ralph said. “We set out to design a robust assortment of easily–built fire stations that could fit the needs of the county. We’re in the process of pricing these with several manufacturers nationwide to allow them to be easily ordered and deployed where they are needed.”
Since its inception, R&S has worked on several federal projects, everything from the barracks at Fort Knox, Ky. to a two–story, 28,000 sq. ft. government office at the Naval Reactor Facility. Building the office on the grounds of a nuclear reactor facility took a unique blend of industry experience and out–of–the–box thinking along with the ability to respond to changing needs.
The company’s expertise in modular construction gives it a prominent edge in the industry. When it comes to modular construction, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Japan are far ahead of the United States.
“The notion of modular construction in the U.S. traditionally carried a stigma and was incorrectly associated with mobile housing construction,” Ralph said, noting that more and more people are becoming educated on modular’s benefits.  
Modular construction creates a controlled environment which helps improve employee quality and safety. “Workers are not as exposed to high levels of noise, dust and particulates or adverse weather conditions,” Ralph said.
The company’s expertise was called on when developers wanted to turn what was a mobile home park into a world–class destination in the heart of Napa’s Wine Country. When The Carneros Resort Inn in Napa Valley was finished it won a 2008 Housing Award from the American Institute of Architects.
“We performed the structural design of the inn’s two–story modular residences and hotel cabins and also provided consulting for the modular feasibility of the project,” Ralph said.
Unique modular projects like the inn are sought after by R&S.
“We look at modular as challenge,” Ralph says. “We’re innovating the industry. It’s what we do. We can design anything and everything.” CLT